Knots
by IShouldBeWriting
Summary: Sara & Gabriel become much closer as the Witchblade's actions in preparation for a major battle force them to reveal their attraction to each other. WIP
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prelude

_Two knots. Oh what that sight does to my poor head_.

Gabriel couldn't get his mind back on what she was saying, not with those two knots the only thing keeping him from the reality of one of his recurring fantasies. Sara. Naked.

Shit.

"... keep half catching sight of things, half hearing things, its driving me more than a little nuts. Can't you find anything relating to the history of the other wielders and how they dealt with it?"

Right, she needed help from him. She often needed his help. He wished she needed it for more than just esoteric research. Like untying those knots... _Damnit, stop letting your mind run, Bowman. She still thinks you're some scrawny geek-boy research hound. Remember? She doesn't know that you need a cold shower every time she leaves._

She hitched her thigh onto the corner of the industrial steel desk, the leather of her short skirt caressing lean muscle as her weight settled. He saw her shiver as the bare back of her thigh encountered the surface, goose bumps flashing momentarily across skin.

Shit.

His lungs tightened numbly as his brain produced an image of Sara, dressed exactly as she was right now with a black leather skirt wrapped low across her waist and bright red leather halter, her hair loosely spread across his desk while he drove into her, fucking hard and reckless. What the hell was she doing, dressed like this. Why did it have to be leather?

"Gabriel?"

Right.

"It'll take me a little while to find something, you can head out if you want," he added casually. _Or,_ he prayed,_ you could stay._

He didn't see her features shift; disappointment, withdrawal, stoicism. The wind drove hard for a moment, rattling a couple dead leaves against the basement window along with a crumpled brown bag and an empty pack of cigarettes. She shivered again.

She chewed her bottom lip for a moment. "Hey, you mind if I borrow your bathroom for a sec to get out of these clothes? I feel a bit, um, exposed, dressed up like this." She cursed inwardly. _Of all the poor timing in the world! Why did the damned blade decide to play games with me while I'm doing an undercover job_?

Gabriel stopped himself short of licking his lips_...out of these clothes?_ God how he wished that had been an invitation instead of the ordinary request it really was. Sara, out of her clothes, was something that kept him sleepless more often than he cared to admit. At 27, Gabriel Bowman's life so far had by no means been lacking in rich imagination or enjoyable recreational experiences. He'd been resisting his attraction to Detective Sara Pezzini since the day she'd walked through the door of his basement office 3 years ago. Sure, he fantasized about her, but the ancient stone hanging gracelessly around her wrist marked her not only as a force to be reckoned with but as untouchable to any ordinary mortal man's heart or hands.

Like his.

"Why don't you use my bedroom instead? The bathroom's barely big enough to turn around in."

Her uneven quirk of the lips and brightening of the eyes in response made him gulp, then sputter, choking on the breath he'd swallowed.

"Hey!" she slapped his back vigorously, "you okay there chief? Swallow something?"

_My tongue,_ he thought. _Or how's about you?_ Gabriel's hands tensed as his imagination provided an almost-real sensation of her lips, smooth, gentle, plump, brushing delicately across his own before returning with more certainty to claim a deeper kiss. Sara yelped and he broke violently away from the though. Her hands clamped to her head as her knees buckled.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Seizure

"Sara? Sara!" Gabriel reached out to grab her elbow. She flinched for a moment, and then steadied as her head came out of her hands. "What the hell was that?!" he dropped to one knee, fingers clutching her chin as he raised her eyes to meet his.

"I swear it wasn't that bad before," her voice was hoarse as she gulped for air.

"How long did you say this has been happening?"

"A week..." her voice drifted.

He wasn't used to hearing uncertainty in her voice. "Just a week?" he coaxed.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't like this before. I don't remember."

Gabriel had a split second to notice the view of bikini underwear exposed by her spread knees. _Not now, damnit._

"What triggered it?" he asked efficiently.

"I don't know," Sara shook her head free of his grip and broke eye contact as her hair cascaded across the side of her face. His hand fell to rest on her knee. _So soft_, a small part of his brain noted as he brushed his thumb soothingly across her leg. Sara's face suddenly twisted tight, her entire body curling inward around her ribs. Gabriel backed away quickly. _What the hell-_ She rocked herself, fingers stiff and white as they dug into her forearms. He dragged his gaze from her stiff body and scrambled off the cold cement floor. Gabriel stumbled as he rounded the desk reaching for one of the books on the shelf to his left. His fingers flew across the pages seeking a specific phrase. Pinning the book open on the corner of the desk, he scanned across the paragraph.

_Shit._

Gabriel propped another book across the open spine to keep him from losing the page. He returned to kneel in front of her as close as he dared without touching.

"Sara?" he queried softly. She stopped rocking but her stiff fingers stayed wrapped bruisingly around her arms. "I need you to tell me when the pain stops."

Her head nodded just a fraction of an assent. He took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and conjured the last bright spring day he could remember, with the smell of newly cut grass and the feel of it's wet blades clinging to his bare feet. His hands drifted down to lightly crown her head like a benediction. Her shoulders released, her chin dropped to her chest and her hands fell in an untidy pile in her lap. His eyes traveled down the waterfall flow of chestnut hair to her hands crumpled just below the hem of that temptingly short skirt. Sara's spine shot arched tight again and her head pulled out of his reach as tears flowed from her unseeing eyes.

_Shit!_

Gabriel pulled away from her again, stumbling across the room to snatch the blanket off the back of the couch. _Think damnit,_ he commanded himself._ Concentrate!_ He ruthlessly shut out everything except for the comforting softness of the blanket's well-worn texture. He filled his lungs as he stepped up behind her and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. Nothing mattered but the comforting softness of the blanket beneath his fingers as he rubbed steady circles into the tension of Sara's back.

Five slow minutes passed before her breathing deepened again and her muscles relaxed. Gabriel noticed the dampness of the hair at the nape of her neck and saw the goose bumps ripple across her neck in response to his thought. _Stop thinking, idiot. Just do one thing at a time here. Let her breathe, damnit, let her breathe. _He intentionally pulled in a lungful of air and watched her unconsciously mimic his movement. His senses expanded to encompass the chill of the cement under his bare feet. _That's a safe sensation._ He tried to catalogue the details of feeling the cement's texture under his heel, the small pressure of the callous in the center of the ball of his foot, the pull of his instep as he shifted his weight in preparation to stand.

"Better?" his voice was soft.

Sara nodded.

"Good." He stood, moving out of touch range.

Her voice sounded like a 3 pack a day habit when she finally spoke. "What the hell was that? What's happening to me, Gabriel?"

"Some of the oldest texts dealing with the witchblade refer to a period of heightened awareness taking place as the blade tries to deepen its connection to the wielder in preparation for a major event."

"This thing is trying to take me over?" there was a low, dangerous challenge to her voice.

"No, not take over. It's just trying a little harder than usual to look out for you. Something big is coming. The blade can't afford to lose you. It's trying to tighten its grip so it can control the outcome of something that hasn't happened yet." He hated himself for making it sound so uncomplicated.

_Oh dear god, Sara. If the blade is right, I want to tighten my grip too. I'm not ready to let this thing take over and fail you the way it has every other woman who's ever worn it. I refuse to lose you to some goddamned piece of metal._

The stone flared to brilliance and the bracelet writhed, covering Sara's lower arm with the protective metal plates of the gauntlet. Her eyes snapped to her arm, holding it straight away from her body.

"Sorry," Gabriel muttered furiously. "It doesn't like what I just thought."

"Which was-" Sara asked.

"No," he cut her off viciously, "I'm not going to explain right now." _I'm not going to trigger another one of those seizures or get myself killed because the blade sees me as a threat to its power. _"Why don't you grab your clothes and get changed," his voice held

_Yup, she definitely needs to change out of those clothes if I'm going to be able to think straight_._ God how I wish I could show her what that sexy leather outfit does to me._

Sara picked herself up off the floor with the blanket still hanging around her shoulders. Gabriel wordlessly offered her the saddlebag from her motorcycle that she'd dumped on the floor beside his desk when she came in.

"Could I grab a quick shower? I'm freezing."

"Yeah, let me get a towel for you, everything else is in the shower. Use whatever you need."

Sara nodded gratefully. Gabriel extracted a towel from the closet as he led her down the hall. She smiled, one of those gentle, appreciative smiles, as she shut the door. _Damn but I wish the appreciation in that smile were more than just friendly._ He wandered back down the hall to re-read the portion of the book he'd gotten out and start his computer searching some of the other esoteric references that might give them a better idea of what the blade was up to this time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Drawn Deeper

Sara sagged against the closed bathroom door for a moment. It had been a hard couple months. Captain Dante was becoming increasingly difficult. He'd intentionally given her the ugliest, complicated, draining cases he could find. He was waiting for her to let down her guard, make a mistake tip him off, prove his suspicions correct. Until the blade started playing head-games Sara had been holding under the pressure. But the half heard, half seen, half felt, things in her head over the course of the past week had been slowly wearing her down. She might not have made a mistake yet in front of Dante, but she had made mistakes. _Like coming to Gabriel's tonight for help_. _One of these days, you're going to do something that tips off Nottingham and Irons to how deeply you cared for Gabriel_. _Get your shit together, Pezzini. Gabriel wouldn't know what he was getting himself into even if he did want more than your friendship. He'd be endangering himself and you know how much it hurts when people you love die. _

She put the towel beside the sink, adjusted the water to a nice warm rain, unknotted the halter and skirt, and stepped into the shower. Her hand steadied her against the tiles as she reached for the shampoo. Suddenly the world shifted dizzily and something alien filled her mind. _Gabriel's shoulder resting against the wall of the shower his head thrown back in the shower's spray. Fire spreading across his nerves (her nerves?) as his hands slid tightly down the length of his hardened penis. He gasped, a word buried somewhere among the shallow breaths as he came closer to his climax._ The intensity of the sensation burned as Sara's body shared the pleasure. Her hand reached out blindly grabbing at the plastic shower curtain and twisting as the sensations overwhelmed her. _Gabriel's shoulders slid down the wall as the first spasm of pleasure pulled his body taught._ The curtain and its rod spun free of their tension-mount at the top of the wall. Sara floundered, her foot sliding on the wet plastic curtain in the basin of the tub. Her head crashed into the rim of the tub as Gabriel's orgasm took over. As she fell into the darkness she heard a word leave his lips prayerfully, _"Sara"._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Need

Gabriel's thin fingers slid across the keyboard making small adjustments to the searching web he'd created in his computer. _Sproig, pop. _His head snapped up and his weight shifted in the chair. A dull thud and clatter heard from the other end of the hall sent him bolting out of his chair.

_She's gonna kill me for sneaking a peak of her in the shower,_ he thought briefly, hand twisting the doorknob. He had a momentary unbidden mental image of Sara in his shower. _Wow, aren't you way past teen-age hormones? Stop thinking about it, Bowman, she's never going to see you that way so you might as well stop fantasizing._

"Sara, are you okay? I thought I heard something."

Steam billowed through the open door as he waited for her usual snappy reply. Gabriel's heart skipped. A tangle of plastic, metal curtain rod, leg, arm, blood.

"Oh dear god, no!"

The floor was soaked as the shower's spray reached beyond the confines of the tub. Sara lay in the tub half wrapped in curtain her head lolling against the tiles. A steady trickle of blood flowed from somewhere in her hair. Her eyes were closed and her facial features slack.

Gabriel tore at the curtain around Sara's limp form. _Okay, take stock of the situation, Bowman. She's obviously bleeding and out cold. Check for a pulse and breathing, then figure out if she's hurt anywhere else._ His cheek fell to her chest and he ignored the view down her lean stomach as he listened. Heart. Breath._ Good. Now the rest._ He started at her legs working his hands quickly across and around every inch of her body. Legs, arms, hips, ribs, chest, back shoulders, neck. His long fingers cradled the base of her skull, rotating to get a better view. Fingers probed through her hair finding a growing lump where her head had been resting against the edge of the tub. He snagged the towel blindly off the counter, placed it in the crook of his elbow, and laid her head over his arm. His other arm went under her legs as he pulled Sara's still body against his chest. Lifting her, he noted that she had been almost completely stretched out across the tub, making her a bit shorter than himself. _Why have I always thought she was so much bigger than this? Always such a bad ass. Makes her a bit larger-than-life, doesn't it?_

He hefted her more securely into his grasp and made his was down the hall to the bedroom. _Somehow, _the ironic part of his mind supplied, _this wasn't the romantic moment I've dreamed about when I carried her off to my bed. _Sitting carefully on the end of the bed, Gabriel leaned Sara's limp torso across his forearm to get a good look at the back of her head. He brushed the hair away from the injury and checked it to make sure the bleeding was stopped and it didn't need stitches. _Thank god head injuries usually bleed worse than they actually are_. Sara shifted and groaned. Her head lifted, eyes not quite focusing.

"Take it easy," he soothed. "You hit your head, Pez, you might have a concussion. I want you to follow my finger with your eyes, Sara." Her eyes tracked the point of his finger as it waved back and forth, up and down. When her gaze settled back on his face, his chest contracted hard; her pupils weren't quite the same size.

"Sara? Are you listening to me?"

"I'm here," she croaked out, pink tinged droplets of water still dribbling down her face and body.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"Saw you coming," she mumbled.

"You knew I was coming down the hall before you fell?"

"No no no," her head jogged unevenly as it shook in negation, "saw you in the shower, body tight, hands-"

Gabriel's mouth opened but no sound would come out. The sentence hung unfinished in the air between them. _What are you doing, blade? Why are you forcing things on her that she's not prepared to see?_

He looked away. //SHE NEEDS YOU//


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Tentative

He looked away. //SHE NEEDS YOU// Gabriel's head snapped up and his eyes flew to the witchblade on her wrist, then up to Sara's face. _She heard it too._

_Shit._

Though dazed and muddled, Sara's expression told him she had heard the blade loud and clear. She was still naked and dripping from the shower. Gabriel's posture stiffened, his body pulling away from her as he shifted his hips uncomfortably. Sara's arms snaked around him to close the distance he had created. Her head tucked into the spot under his chin. Stunned for a moment, he tried to interpret the change in body language. He tightened his arms and felt fierce joy as she pulled closer. _Sara naked in his arms_. After a few moments, he lifted his chin from the top of her head.

"Is this what you want, or is it the blade's choice?" he asked, slowly.

"You 'member that day in th' park?"

Gabriel settled for the safe response. "I remember,"

"Wanted to curl up like this."

"Why didn't you?"

"Thought you wouldn't want me."

He shook his head. "Wouldn't want you, Sara? What wouldn't I want? You're intelligent, independent, and stunningly beautiful. What man wouldn't want all of that?"

Her words slurred a bit. "Case you missed it, 'm life in't 'actly normal, 'Riel. There's lots men don't want female cop lover. Somethin' 'bout danger of losing. Or maybe its ego. And 'm not exactly your age." There, she's said it.

His hand drifted down her back tracing some delicate fretwork pattern that only he could see.

"Yes," he acknowledged, "you're older than me. I don't know what that means yet about our relative life experiences. I hope we'll have time to talk about it when you're thinking a bit clearer. As for the psychobabble about strong partners and ego-blows, I've got zero issues. Each of us has our strengths. Mine's not physical. That's fine with me. It's your head game if you want to see yourself as the stereotype of a butch female cop. Me, I see something in you that's truly amazing. As for the other part, everyone loses someone. I don't know whether intentionally being placed in harms way makes the knowledge that I could lose you better or worse. But I'm not going to let it stop me from taking a chance. You defy stereotypes and it's an incredibly powerful turn on for me. That vision of me in the shower? Who do you think I was fantasizing about? Do you know how hard it is every time you walk in that door and I know that I don't have the right to touch you the way I can in my dreams? That little leather outfit today almost reduced me to something primal."

His grip around her damp body loosened as his hips shifted tightly. He turned her to meet his gaze. There was something vulnerable and liquid in her eyes. He brushed his lips across her forehead then hesitantly across her lips. The liquid clinging to her lashes finally spilled over and trickled down her cheek. Gabriel's expression slowly closed in on itself. _Wrong choice._

Uncertain, terrified, Sara waited for the blade to take the decision from her hands. Gabriel began to turn away. _He doesn't understand_, she panicked. Sara scrambled to unsteady legs, clutching his shoulders tightly.

"Don't go, 'Riel. 'm not playing. Don't know what blade thinks. 'm 'fraid t' ask. Don' wan' 'nother seizure."

Gabriel wasn't given a chance to respond. With a fluid motion, the witchblade flowed down Sara's wrist and wrapped itself around his bicep. The stone glowed brilliantly and Gabriel's heart trip hammered for a moment as a different pulse took over his body for a moment. They both blinked the spots out of their eyes and Sara's breath hitched as she noticed the thin line of silver that still encircled Gabriel's upper arm, a small orange-red oval of stone swirling deceptively at the center of the band. Her fingers reached instinctively for her own wrist. The witchblade was back where it belonged, looking no different than she remembered. Fascinated, she traced the line of silver around Gabriel's arm.

"How do I get this thing off of me?" he seethed through clenched teeth.

" S'it hurting you," Urgency made Sara's voice higher.

"No," he replied slowly.

She shook her head.

"Don' un'erstan' wha' 's doing right now," she replied, knees sagged as she slid back into his lap again.

_Oh god, I've got to get her out of my lap._ For the first time in the years they'd known each other all the cards were on the table and his body was beginning to respond to her closeness. Sara smiled up at him deliciously.

"Hmnn?" he queried wordlessly, too distracted to really think.

Sara's eyes drifted closed for a moment. Heat built low in Gabriel's stomach and his nipples tightened in a way that felt foreign to his body. A strange, pleasant warmth of fluid was building somewhere between his legs (_her legs!_). His eyes grew wide as one long-fingered hand reached out to stroke Sara's body in confirmation. There was an odd duality to the sensation as one of his hands brushed across Sara's breast and over her hardened nipple. He drank the smile on Sara's face hungrily.

_"Oh."_

Gabriel's dark lashes fluttered closed. _Well, if I had any doubt about how she felt, I suppose that answers it. _He focused on sorting through the sensations that were not his own. Shivering chill. Aching head. //BLADE// he addressed it deliberately//CAN I HEAL HER?// A pulling of energy gathered somewhere deep at the base of his spine was the only answer he received. Uncertain, he gave in to instinct, hands slipping into her hair as the energy jolted up his spine started to crawl down his upper arms. _If you had any idea how long I've wanted to be able to run my hands through your hair, Sara. God I hope this works._

"What'r you doing?" her voice was still slightly slurred and rough.

"Shhh," he murmured. The place deep in his body felt somehow empty now. He combed lightly through her hair, searching out the bump and the bleeding wound on the back of her head. His eyes fluttered open. After the fourth time he had still found nothing.

"Feel better?"

She nodded, eyes focusing clearly now.

"Perhaps this is part of what the blade meant when it said that I needed you." Sara said quietly as she looked down at her lap.

Gabriel stifled a groan as her body fit more closely into his arms.

"I don't get it, but right now, if it will let me keep you safe, I don't care!"

Sara's lips bowed into a generous smile, sensual, relaxed, happy. His body ached greedily. _No,_ he reminded himself,_ you've seen her look like this before, remember; with Concobar._ He still remembered watching her eyes light up for another man. He'd never been the subject of that sort of attention from anyone in his life. Usually Gabriel tried not to yearn for things that had to be given freely by other people. With Sara curled in his arms, he found himself overwhelmed again by all the things he'd never had in a partner. There was a richly layered tapestry to many relationships that had always eluded him. Ultimately, his relationships never seemed to last. _Please don't let me screw it up this time._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Insecurity

He hastily picked something else to focus on, hoping that the blade hadn't chosen to share any of those thoughts with Sara. _She doesn't deserve your insecurities and uncertainties. The blade made its opinion known in no uncertain terms. Leave the rest of it alone for now, you fool._ Gabriel wrapped his arms more securely around Sara and shifted to his feet.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" she protested.

"You're shivering, and while you may not have a concussion any more, we don't know when or where the blade's going to give you another seizure. Much as this is confusing, stunning, arousing, and terrifying, I think we need to take care of a couple more mundane details at the moment. Considering there isn't an inch of you that I haven't seen at this point," he smirked, "I'm taking you back to the bathroom to warm up."

Sara's mouth snapped shut. _He's right. You're shivering, your hair's full of drying blood_, and the idea of Gabriel having seen every inch of her made the building heat return to the pit of her stomach.

"Does this mean you're going to shower with me?" she asked slyly. "Your clothes are soaked and I know you're cold too. I don't know why those seizures the blade's giving me are so intense right now. Until I know what's triggering them, I'll have no warning before they hit me."

Gabriel's eyes narrowed as he looked down at her, "while I can't fault your logic, I get the feeling somehow that I'm being played for a sucker here."

_Oh what I wouldn't give to let her- _he cut the thought off abruptly before the blade could make a choice about whether or not to share that particularly juicy thought with Sara. His eyes settled on the thin silver band that still encircled his arm, _do me a favor and give her a break for a few hours, okay? We're both wrung out and pushing either of us isn't going to get you anywhere except maybe the bottom of the Hudson right now._

The band around Gabriel's arm kept its own council.

He set Sara down on the closed lid of the toilet.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal; I'll shower with you but NOTHING is going to happen. I refuse to be rushed by you or this weird-ass piece of metal. I'm not going anywhere. I'm committed body and soul to be yours if you'll have me. The rest will come when we've both had time to think, talk, and make our own decisions."

_Whoa, where did that come from and what the hell happened to the me who was obsessing over those leather knots an hour ago?_ He tried to keep his face straight while he stared her down.

For her part, Sara was a bit stunned. _When did he start laying down the law? _She opened her mouth to speak, then thought better of it. _He's got some very good points about making our own decisions and not rushing into anything. If I want a true partner, I'm going to have to tell him clearly what I want and what the blade wants. That is, provided I can tell the difference. Somehow I don't get the impression he's going to settle for being something less than my equal. Who would have thought Gabriel Bowman would turn out to be more independent than the last 3 "older men" I've dated. _Suddenly, being older than he was didn't worry her. _ I'm nowhere near as worldly when it comes to sex as he probably thinks I am. Hell, considering his lifestyle, he's probably had more exposure to the wilder side of life and the body erotic than I have._

Gabriel pulled his T-shirt up and over his head, dropping it in the corner. He turned his back to Sara as he started the water and adjusted the temperature. Sara felt sudden return of the feral hunger to touch him as she got her first real look at him with fewer clothing.

Gabriel's hand stilled on the hot water faucet as he got lost in the alieness of someone else's mind. "Um, if you keep doing that, I'm going to walk out and leave you to shower by yourself," he tried to sound casual but his voice betrayed him, dropping an octave lower than normal.

Sara's smile alone could have devoured him.

"You object to my enjoying the view? Don't even try to tell me you wouldn't do the same if our positions were reversed. Take it as a compliment; I always thought you were scrawny under those baggy clothes of yours. I can see now that I was grossly misinformed." Knowing he was sharing her thoughts on some level, Sara's eyes skimmed leisurely across the width of his shoulders and down to his slender waist.

"I'll have you know I don't spend every minute of my time cooped up in this basement in front of a computer. I've been doing aikido since I was in high school and there's no better way to get around this fucking city than on a bicycle."

_Oh, I would beg to disagree with you there, but then I guess I've never taken you out on my Buell, have I? _She considered the excitement mingled in her anticipation of his body pressed against her back as she took him on his first cross-town trip on her motorcycle. _Yup, I definitely should have considered dating Gabriel earlier._ She shifted, flowing soundlessly to her feet so her body was mere inches from Gabriel's as he straightened from adjusting the water. He jumped, startled as her fingers trailed firmly down the center of his body to the top button of his jeans. His hand grabbed hers before she could get the button undone.

"Did I somehow image the part where we agreed that nothing was going to happen right now?" His voice cracked hoarsely.

Sara's breath tickled his shoulder and he felt the magnification of warmth where her naked body pressed against his as she leaned up to his ear.

"I heard you. Nothing is going to happen, but I'd be lying if I said that was going to be an easy promise to keep. And I'll be damned if I'm not going to avoid touching you like some chaste virgin." She took a step backward, "look, Gabriel, I understand why you don't want to rush. I get it and I agree with it. But not rushing things isn't the same as not starting out slowly. We have to start somewhere. Don't be afraid to let me in."

His head still hanging, Sara felt him release her hand. His muscles twitched but he remained still as her hand spread flat across his stomach. She briefly curled her spooned body against his before turning him to face her. His eyes read easily; confusion, fear, hunger. She laid one callused palm against his cheek.

"Why is this getting to you so bad?"

Gabriel took a couple steadying breaths before answering her.

"I've never been very good at more than just casual relationships. I'm scared of it, but that's the last thing I want this to become. You have no idea how much I want this. Wait. Maybe you do. I don't know. I can't tell how much the blade is sharing with each of us. At the moment, I can't separate it all out yet. Maybe later. Ultimately I think I might want you worse than Ian Nottingham does. And that's a bit scary considering the way he stalks you. I'm just terrified of screwing up here. The blade is doing something strange by claiming me as its own. I don't know what to think of that. Is it planning to use me and toss me aside when I'm not convenient any more? I don't like the thought of being manipulated into some pre-ordained role in a cosmic chess game. Especially not if all I get to be is a pawn. I was supposed to be the one who watches this stuff and chronicle's it from the sidelines. While I always wanted you, I never wanted to become part of the legends. But if I'm going to get drawn deeper in, I want to be by your side every step of the way. No hiding, no needing protection. I want to be an equal in every way, allowed to chose my own fate."

"I can't make promises for anyone but myself. I don't know what the blade is planning. Yes, I want this. I want you. Or at least the chance to explore the possibility of a life shared with you. Now that I know that's what we both want, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure this damned piece of metal gives both of us a fair shake at making things work. The rest of this, we're going to have to take one moment at a time for now. You can start by letting me in. I don't want to hurt you. Knowing that you want me too, the need to finally be able to touch is physically painful. All I want is to get closer to you. Emotionally, physically, the whole nine yards. I know there's a whole lot more to tackle, but can we maybe just start with the undeniable fact that we are both hungering for each other so bad right now that it hurts?"

They stared at each other for the space of a few deep breaths. Finally, Gabriel gave a tight, decisive nod (Sara never knew whether it was to some inner conversation with himself or an outward signal to her) and drew her body deliberately to him. One of his hands threaded into the tangled damp hair at the nape of her neck, the other hand stretched across the small of her back, as if trying to get all the way to the other side of her hips. _Thank god,_ she thought idly,_ finally a guy who doesn't immediately grab my ass or try to grind into me._ She saw a smile quirk one corner of his mouth and knew that he had shared that thought. _Well, I suppose this at least will teach us each others likes and dislikes a lot faster than normal._ In an unspoken agreement, both of them kept their eyes open, watching each other as their lips touched. Sara slipped her arms low around his hips and pulled him more tightly to her for a second taste.

It was strange, they both acknowledged their hunger to touch, but were willing to ignore the urgency in favor of being able to savor the moment. There would be plenty of time later for quick, hungry, passions. Now, while things were quiet and still, they would take the precious time to discover the things they had never expected to be able to learn about each other.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Closer

"Now do I get to take your pants off?" Sara quipped, her breathing a bit ragged when they finally separated.

There was a drowning intensity to Gabriel's eyes as he stared back at her for a few moments, chest heaving as he tried to get his breathing under control.

"Yeah," he responded, his voice deep and hard.

Sara didn't need the witchblade to tell her he was struggling to maintain his composure. Much as she was tempted to lighten the mood by teasing him provocatively, she resisted. He was so serious, it was a side of him that she hadn't seen much of and needed to consider. She also knew that she had a habit of shying away from the intensity of her partner's feelings in a relationship. Perhaps it was part of the reason her relationships never worked in the end, she was always trying to deflect the sort of deeper emotions that might lead to a more serious commitment.

Gabriel's watched her silently as she worked the buttons loose on his jeans. Sara found it difficult to let him watch her so intently, but she stubbornly avoided doing anything that might change his behavior. Once the buttons were undone, she hitched her fingers in the waistband and drew the jeans down over his slender hips, letting her hands deliberately skim over the simple cotton of his boxer/briefs and down the length of his well-muscled thighs. Tossing the jeans into the corner with his shirt, she tried to stand motionless before his scrutiny.

When he finally spoke, the tension in Gabriel's voice let her know that she was glad she'd resisted the urge to tease him. "Why don't you hop in and get warmed up?"

She nodded and carefully avoided touching the tiles on the walls as she slipped under the spray of the shower. God, we have so much to learn. Sara tilted her head back under the water and let the spray pound into her scalp. She felt Gabriel's long slender fingers slide through her hair and trace down the length of her back. Hm, I didn't even hear him get in, she noted. Her breath caught when she realized that his hands weren't stopping their descent. They traced past the small of her back, over her tailbone, around the curve of her ass, and down the first few inches of her thighs before slipping away from her skin.

She glanced at him over her shoulder and the view made his body tighten and vibrate pleasantly. Hmm, nicely developed arms, long slender fingers, straight shoulders, not too muscular, smooth chest. I think I could get used to the nice proportions. She grabbed his hands and wrapped them around her body to cup her breasts. He tried to move away, but her own hands were still covering his and kept them firmly in place.

" Mystical bullshit aside, I'm going to do this the old fashioned way; this is exactly where I want your hands RIGHT NOW. And if I hadn't made that promise, I'd be fucking you against the wall."

Gabriel felt Sara's body shaking with silent laughter as she felt his undeniable reaction to her words pressed against the small of her back.

"Well, now that we know this is a completely mutual attraction, care to take advantage of the circumstances and help me get showered?"

Wordlessly, Gabriel grabbed the bottle of shampoo, squirted some into his palm and began to work it into her hair.

He shook his head, "are you always this demanding?'

"I've never been accused of being a timid lover."

Blood sang hotly in Gabriel's veins, "why do I suddenly worry that I'm in way over my head here?"

Sara's hips moved against his in a manner that was both suggestive and enticing.

"You sure you still want to keep that promise?" she teased.

"No," he growled.

"Turn 'round," she ordered.

Gabriel threw her a smoldering look as he turned and deliberately put his palms against the wall, spreading himself like one of her perp collars waiting to be patted down. Sara was stunned by how strongly she responded to the correspondence. She knew cops who got turned on by checking out a perp before cuffing them. Oh this is definitely going in directions that none of my other relationships have gone before. This is either going to be very unbalanced and unhealthy or its going to be better than anything I've ever had before.

Shit.

Sara had to work had to keep her touch efficient and business-like as she worked over Gabriel's body with the soap. I never would have guessed he had such a great body. I'm guessing I'm not the first woman who's overlooked him because of the baggy clothes. I wonder how many chances have passed him by because of it? On the other hand, if this goes the way I hope, other women noticing him won't matter any more. If she'd taken time to ponder, Sara might have been unnerved by how seriously she was considering the potential of this relationship. As it was, she had far too much distraction in the warm skin under her fingers to wonder at the serious tone of her own thoughts.

She looked him over critically, "anyplace I missed?" she teased invitingly.

"Tsk, tsk, Chief. Innuendo isn't going to get you anywhere tonight."

She laughed enjoying the verbal sparing that had always been part of their easy friendship.

"Let's get that shampoo out of your hair," Gabriel gently turned her under the shower's spray so he could help her rinse.

_I could drink the water off her body_, he thought fervently as he watched the rivulets converge and flow between her breasts. _Down Bowman, remember you want this one to last. There'll be plenty of time._ He reached over to enjoy sifting strands of Sara's smooth hair through his fingers. She leaned back into his hands and let him do all the work. _She certainly seems to be enjoying this at least as much as you are._ He tugged Sara out of the spray, grabbed the bottle of conditioner, spread a portion of it out across his palms, and worked it in from the ends of her hair to her scalp.

"Are you always this meticulous? No wonder your hair always looks so good. You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," he agreed happily, "how could I not be enjoying life when I'm sharing a naked shower with one of the most drop-dead gorgeous women I've ever met?"

Sara's skin flushed and she bit her tongue to hold back a defensive comment. She wasn't used to letting men see her as an attractive woman. With Gabriel, she found herself wanting to let him see her without trying to shape his view. She was eager to see a different person reflected back through the rich chocolate of his eyes. For the first time in her life, Detective Sara Pezzini was considering who she might be when not defined by her badge and the blade on her wrist.

Gabriel stretched fluidly letting his long lean body fill the space. _He's taller than I'd thought._ Seeing him stand straight with no awareness of her scrutiny, she realized that most of the time he stooped with his shoulders tight and his neck forward. _I wonder if it's the time in front of a computer or if he's subconsciously trying to be less noticeable in the world. I've seen victims at the precinct that looked like that; the ones who've been beaten one too many times. I really don't know a thing about his childhood, do I? All this time that we've been friends and I've never even asked whether or not he has a happy family somewhere out there. For all I know, he could have grown up with worse than what I got. We really do have a lot to learn. But I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to not noticing that body again. God he's graceful. I doubt he knows how attractive he can be when he isn't trying to hide out. Guess we both try not to be noticed in our own ways._

A light touch on her cheek broke Sara from her contemplation.

"Serious thoughts?" he asked, a moment's hesitation in his voice.

_We're both still feeling our way here. Is she having doubts about getting involved with me?_ He hated himself for letting it get the better of him, but Gabriel couldn't help the insecure voice that seemed to ride shotgun in the back of his mind when it came to Sara right now. The silent movies that sometimes played in his head had never featured her returning his interest. Sure, the fantasies had always been pleasant fodder on cold nights, but being faced with the reality was an entirely different thing. _Take it moment to moment right now, Bowman. Just let it be what it is and try not to get too lost in this. No sense losing your heart over her this early when things might still fall apart. _

"I was just noticing how tall you are when you stand up straight. Did you realize that you don't usually?"

Her reply wasn't what he expected, but it only served to highlight how much they could still mis-read each other without the benefit of the witchblade sharing their thoughts and emotions.

"Huh," he replied thoughtfully, "you're right. My aikido instructor used to pound on me for it all the time so I at least stand straight when I'm in the dojo. But I guess I still don't do it under normal circumstances."

"Any particular reason," she asked. She wanted to know so much more of his past, of the parts of him that she didn't know yet.

"I hit this really fast growth spurt somewhere around my sophmore year of high school. It made me kind of clumsy for a couple years, which was why I started taking aikido. For a while though, I was all arms and legs. I don't think I really filled in all the way till I was close to twenty. By then, I'd learned to be comfortable in my own skin again thanks to 6 years in the dojo every week, but I guess I never quite stopped standing a little funny when I wasn't in front of a sensei."

She ran a hand lightly across the span of his chest from shoulder to shoulder.

"Well you should do it more often. Your body dynamics change pretty drastically when you're standing straight. And for the record, it shows off some of your, um, appealing attributes." She couldn't help but flush a little as she enjoyed the feeling of the wet warmth of his skin beneath her fingers.

He swallowed hard. _That shower's gonna turn cold pretty soon and if she keeps this up, I'm gonna need it!_

"We should get finished. The hot water tank is only good for about 20 minutes before you end up with nothing but luke-warm misery."

"Point taken," she laughed. _Oh no you don't. I may let you off the hook for the moment, Gabriel, but I am going to learn more about you. And if I have to learn to accept your scrutiny, then you've got to take it from me too._ _The more I learn, the deeper I want to be drawn into your world. I really hope you're willing to share and let me in._

Sara stepped back under the spray and vigorously scrubbed the conditioner out of her hair then quickly rinsed the soap from her body. She didn't notice how Gabriel stilled to watch her intently as she moved under the steady rain of the shower. By the time she returned her attention to him the heat in his gaze had been carefully smothered as he refocused on the safely innocuous bar of soap. She didn't feel his eyes as they bore into her again, watching the sweet spot where her ass and thighs met as she stepped out of the shower.

Gabriel shook himself mentally as she stepped out of the shower. _Rinse,_ he commanded himself. _She's not going anywhere._

"So, um, why were you dressed so, um-" he found that he couldn't finish the sentence.

Sara smiled, _so you noticed the clothes, huh, Gabriel. _Maybe there had been an unexpected fringe benefit to her undercover assignment She made a mental note to see if she could get him to reveal how long he'd been attracted to her before the witchblade forced both their hands.

"I'm working an undercover assignment right now. A couple hookers have turned up beaten to death recently and we're trying to collar the perp before this turns any uglier."

"God if you've been going out dressed like that, you've got to be attracting some serious attention," he tried and failed to keep the protective concern out of his voice.

"Relax, Gabe. Remember, I've always got Jake for backup and the witchblade if that fails." _Not to mention a certain psycho-stalker. Lord knows what Nottingham will do when he finds out about Gabriel and I._

"Just be careful, okay? I know this is your job and I'm not going to suddenly become some over-protective moron. But with the witchblade giving you distractions, you might not be as fast as you think you are right now."

"Fair enough. I promise I'll be more cautious than usual till we get this figured out. Speaking of the witchblade, any idea what's going on with that band around your arm?"

Gabriel tried not to let his mixed emotions at that particular turn of events come out in his voice when he answered, "none of the research I've done up till now has included anything like this. That doesn't mean this is entirely new, after all I've never had reason to look for any sort of male counterpart to the witchblade before this. It might be that there's an explanation, but I've never come across it because I wasn't looking. I'm going to do a deeper search."

She couldn't resist smiling at his supreme confidence that he would be able to find something. She knew he was tenacious when it came to research. She doubted that he had ever failed to find information about a chosen subject of interest. If any previous records of the witchblade claiming a second person while still actively bonded to a living wielder existed, he would find it.

"A word of advice from experience," she offered, "you may not like it, but for the moment, you probably don't want to take that thing off or try to mess with it. If it's anything like the hunk of metal on my wrist, it won't take kindly to being separated from you."

"I'll keep that in mind," he responded, stepping out of the shower and grabbing a towel off a hook on the back of the door. He couldn't keep the uncertainty and anger out of his voice.

"Do you blame me for this," Sara asked haltingly. She had to know.

"No," he sighed, "we both made choices here. I'm just really not comfortable being drawn deeper into this."

"Now you know how I feel. I never wanted this. I'm finally learning to live with its presence in my life, but I was never given a choice. The acceptance has been hard won for me." _I hope it will be easier for you,_ she thought silently._ You may not ever know it, Gabriel, but I promise I'm going to try to shield you from the worst parts of what's to come._

Sara had always been fiercely protective of her friends. She was beginning to realize that need to protect had always run deeper with Gabriel than most. He could handle himself but she never wanted to see him lose that incredible spark that made him who he was. She knew from her own experiences that close contact with the witchblade would slowly and surely devour someone like Gabriel leaving nothing but an empty shell in its wake. Sometimes she felt like that was what it had done to her; there was nothing left but the struggle to bring justice and balance to a fight so ancient and cosmic that she knew it would never be achieved in her lifetime. That knowledge had ground her down as surely as centuries of pressure turned coal to diamonds. Like a diamond, Sara frequently thought of herself as nothing but the distilled elements necessary to achieve certain perfection. All that would remain when the witchblade was done with her would be a perfect world. She'd fought against it at first, but now she knew that a small part of her had had welcomed the knowledge that the world would be a better place when she finally left it behind. Accepting the witchblade's had at least bestowed that one gift on her. That didn't mean she was eager to share the experience with this man whom she was just beginning to love.


End file.
